Martial Marches Manchester United On

Manchester United returned to winning ways after nine matches following a hard fought win over Swansea at Old Trafford.

Louis van Gaal's side hold their victory to summer signing Martial as he once again scored and assisted Wayne Rooney to get the all important winner.

It was the Red Devils first win since November after what has been a chastising period for the under pressure Louis van Gaal.

Although the performance would not be up there with those served up at the Theatre of Dreams over the years, the win was all that matters for Manchester United.

They started the match very slowly, a start that was in sharp contrast to the verve they showed in the opening 45 minutes against Chelsea on Monday. Instead there was a return to the now popular snooze feast that has become customary from Van Gaal's side this season.

But the second half served up more excitement than Manchester United last five matches at home.

It was Martial that rose to the occasion as he has done several times this season when he opened the scoring. The question of where Manchester United would be without the young French striker is very apt. He has been the only bright spark in attack in what has been an uneventful season so far for the English giants.

However, the joy of that goal was short lived as Swansea's midfielder, Sigurdsson got the equaliser. Memories of the comeback win over Manchester United by the same opponents in August must have flashed the minds of the fans at Old Trafford, as the Welsh side stood toe-to-toe with their more illustrious host.

The Welsh side who are still without a substantive manager was buoyed by the equaliser. Yet, Martial had other ideas, when he set up Wayne Rooney for the winner 13 minutes from time. The Captain still had work to do when he got the ball, as it was behind him, but he had the awareness to flick the ball into the net, to show his critics that he still possess the class to lead Manchester United after a largely disappointing spell in front of goal for the Three Lions record goal scorer.

Louis van Gaal still had to endure some nervous moments as Swansea came close to getting an equaliser after goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski's header went just wide off the post following a frantic closing minutes of the match.

Pressure easing on Van Gaal

If the English tabloids were the only barometer of measuring truth, the former Dutch manager should have been long gone. He was under enormous pressure a couple of weeks ago, and there was intense speculation that he would be sacked if he failed to win against Stoke City, he walked out of his pre match press conference before the Stoke match demanding an apology from the assembled media for the claims that he had lost his job, despite the defeat to Stoke, it is now four points from a possible six for Manchester United, and Van Gaal would be hoping for a run of results that would fetch more wins in the coming weeks as that is what would keep the fans on side after a difficult last two months.